


Variables

by hellabaloo



Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dating, M/M, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 03:42:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/718496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellabaloo/pseuds/hellabaloo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dating is like getting puzzle pieces to fit together when you're not sure where the edges are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Variables

**Author's Note:**

> For [a prompt](http://hobbit-kink.livejournal.com/3393.html?thread=6307393) over at [](http://hobbit-kink.livejournal.com/profile)**hobbit_kink** :
> 
> every man i fall for drinks his coffee black  
> love and hate are tattooed on his knuckles and  
> my name is on his back  
> ....  
> every man i fall for works the graveyard shift  
> he kisses me softly to wake me up  
> and takes my place in bed  
> ....  
> every man i fall for keeps his anger on a string and holds it tight  
> when other men walk by blinking their eyes at me  
> he always picks a fight  
> ....  
> every man i fall for  
> nearly every man
> 
> cold war kids _every man i fall for_
> 
> Bilbo dates three dwarves that follow these descriptions, and then he falls in love with the one who doesn't.

They met when Bilbo, in a hurry to get to work, ran straight into the solid mass of Dwalin's chest and dumped hot coffee all over him. He had brushed off Bilbo's stream of apologies with a smirk and said, "I'll let you buy me dinner to make it up to me."

They got drinks and fucked in the alley outside the pub instead. It was quick, hard, and dirty and looking back, Bilbo could only laugh at how it all should've been so obvious.

Bilbo knew they weren't in a relationship, weren't exclusive, but he'd never been able to keep his heart from falling too deeply and too quickly in love with someone. He tried not to hate Dwalin when they were lying together in bed and he brought up getting serious with the quiet post-grad that worked at the bookshop next to the coffee shop where they met. Bilbo kept tracing the tattoos scattered across Dwalin's knuckles, and made a noncommittal sound. He claimed an early morning meeting and kicked Dwalin out, promising to call later. He didn't and neither did Dwalin.

[]

Bilbo loved it when Nori slid into bed beside him in the hazy pre-dawn. He slept like the dead and Bilbo never had to worry that his old beast of a coffee machine would wake him. There was something innocent to Nori while he slept that Bilbo missed when he was awake. His mother had always thought him too willing to believe the best in people, that it would only get his heart into trouble. She was right, like moms tend to be, but Bilbo couldn't help himself. 

There were things to Nori that Bilbo learned early on weren't up for discussion, even if they were practically living together. Bilbo wanted to be there when Nori finally felt safe enough to share them, but it wasn't a matter of when or if. In the end, Nori kissed his cheek and told him, "You're too sweet for me, Bilbo, and I don't want to be responsible for changing that."

[]

It was a surprise when Bofur introduced Bilbo as his boyfriend to his brother and cousin. They'd been sleeping together two weeks, and while it unsettled Bilbo there was something about the definitive statement that made a small, forgotten part of him flush with happiness. 

It took Bilbo six months to notice the cracks in Bofur's easy-going smile and ready laugh. They were most brittle when Bilbo chatted with his favorite barista or made conversation with the clerk in the grocery store check-out line. It took another three months and two drunken fist-fights at the local pub with men that tried to buy Bilbo a pint, one that left Bilbo with a split lip and Bofur a black eye, before he could put his finger on it. 

He gave Bofur a bag of frozen peas for his eye and told him to lose his number and clear out his drawer in Bilbo's dresser in the morning.

[]

He doesn't really notice Fili the first two times they meet. The first was when Fili moved into the building across the street and Bilbo caught an errant football from rolling down the street. The second was when Fili dropped by with some of Bilbo's mis-delivered mail. It wasn't until they were both at a party hosted by a mutual acquaintance that there's an awkward exchange of

"I don't mean to sound like a stalker—"

"But I think you live in the building across from mine?"

Fili had smiled a slow smile then and Bilbo could feel his heart stutter in chest. He didn't realize until he was back in his apartment his cheeks hurt from smiling back. Bilbo still thought he fell in love too easily, but for once it seemed like the risk might be worth it.

[]


End file.
